THOUSANDS ASSEMBLE TO SEE MARVEL'S AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR STARS

On 16 April, the crowds began descending on Marina Bay Sands from 3.30am for wristband registration – the key to the Avengers fan event co-produced by Disney and Marina Bay Sands. Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr Strange) and Karen Gillan (Nebula) would walk the purple carpet that evening, along with Russo and executive producer Trinh Tran.

In the lead-up to the stars’ highly anticipated arrival, hosts Nikki Muller and Bobby Tonelli led the 4,000-strong crowd in the main Event Plaza through the Marvel Cinematic Universe with trivia questions and prizes, including tickets to the upcoming Marvel Studios exhibition at ArtScience Museum. Child cancer survivors from the Make-A-Wish Singapore Foundation also had the honour of walking the purple carpet. The charity is supported by Disney and Marina Bay Sands' Corporate Social Responsiblity programme, Sands for Singapore.

For the 3,000 other fans awaiting the live stream of the event in the Sands Expo Hall, a kicker would soon be revealed: they’d be the first to meet the stars in the flesh.

Russo and Tran received a warm welcome as fans jostled to have Avengers memorabilia autographed by the director and executive producer. Then came Gillan, who quite literally shone in a sparkly number as she posed for photos with fans.

But RDJ and Cumberbatch’s arrival was what most of the crowd had been waiting for – two former Sherlock stars whose presence seemed befitting of their alter egos, Tony Stark and Dr Strange. RDJ – evidently the more charismatic showman – twirled, skipped and pranced for the crowd as fans’ Avengers merchandise, which included life-size Infinity Gauntlets, fan art and Iron Man masks.

Cumberbatch’s droves of Sherlock and Dr Strange fans cheered as he approached the purple carpet, cutting a dapper figure in his light azure-coloured suit as he posed for pictures and signed autographs.

RDJ also declared the evening the "coolest fan event” he'd been to, while Cumberbatch called the event "utterly surreal".

But a question remained on everyone’s lips: How will Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War end? Not one member of the cast knows, as has been a well-known fact that Russo again emphasised at the fan event. He did hint, though, that the final Infinity Stone – the orange Soul Stone Stone that Thanos is in search of – sits within Marina Bay Sands.

“Avengers, assemble!” the crowd roared in unison, at Russo's count. And with that, a 12-metre-high glass prism – the heart of Marina Bay Sands’ light and water show, Spectra – lit up in yellow, as a series of pyrotechnics and laser projections washed the integrated resort in colours representing all six Infinity Stones.

It was a first for Marina Bay Sands: integrating existing technologies into a colourful, live show that would leave its mark and redefine red carpets globally. And no better an encapsulation of Marvel, with its knack for pulling out all the punches in its cinematic universe and real life.